arnold schwarzenegger, of course david baker, n.e.r.d. folks, tomorrow night, animal expert david salmoni. jimmy fallon right now. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today" -- it's official. england's prince william an his girlfriend kate middleton are engaged. a royal wedding is in the works. unfinished business. lawmakers return to capitol hill, and a deal on tax cuts begins to take shape. and by the horns. a bull gives spectators a scare in a mexico city bull ring. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across

the nation, including the pick time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a royal engagement. after an eight-year on and off romance and months of speculation, royal officials announced prince william will wed his longtime girlfriend kate middleton. according to the office of england, prince charles, the couple got engaged last month during a vacation in kenya. no official date has been set, but royal officials say a wedding will be held sometime next spring or summer in london. william and kate's relationship has been a subject of worldwide speculation since they met more than eight years ago while both are students at saint andrews university in scotland. a royal statement said prince william has already informed the queen and other close members of his family of the engagement and it appears the prince is old-fashioned. according to royal officials, he first asked permission to marry ms. middleton from her father and according to the royal statement released, the now

28-year-old couple will live in north wales where prince william will continue to serve with the royal air force. well, here in the u.s., kicking off a lame duck session of congress yesterday, one key player did an about-face on the long held political policy and a big deal said to be in the works on bush era tax cuts. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. mitch mcconnell, the minority leader in the senate kick off this lame duck session with a surprise reversing 180 on his position on earmarks. these pet projects often added into big spending bills that keep washington running. he said that he will now support eliminating earmarks to save money for the federal government. this is said to be quite an influence from the tea party. their members already starting to file into washington, getting ready for the new session of congress. senator mcconnell said this is a

symbolic step to show voters that we're serious about cutting spending and the caucus will vote on that today. voshgs the other big issue they're dealing with, your taxes and what to do about the expiration of those bush tax bra breaks. there is said to be a compromise in the works. president obama agreeing to a one-year temporary extension for the wealthy, people making over $250,000. something that republicans have said they want to help keep the economy moving. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. in washington yesterday a dramatic scene unfolded when veteran congressman charles rangel walked out of his ethics trial after saying he couldn't afford his lawyers. despite pleas from rangel for a delay, the house ethics committee moved ahead with the hearing. it ruled there was evidence to support 13 counts of misconduct. among the accusations, not paying some taxes and getting special deals on rent controlled apartments. the subcommittee is scheduled to

reconvene today and consider whether to formally find rangel guilty. if that happens, experts say he will face a public reprimand but it is not expected rangel would be expelled. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america -- in colorado, a 34-car pileup shut down interstate 25 and sent 12 people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. the wrecked vehicles included five tractor trailers. no official word yet on the cause of the chain reaction crash, but reports of light snow and icy roads. in upstate new york a deer on the loose caused plenty of damage and a lot of panic. witnesses say the buck was chasingchase ing a doe and her fawn when it tore through the supermarket. at one point it appeared to be chasing a passerby. the supermarket is attempt rarely closed for repairs. in illinois, the iconic wrigley field marquise covered

in wildcat purple for this weekend's northwestern university of illinois football game. the first college game played in the ballpark since 1938, but cub fans need not worry. after the games the marquise will be repainted in its famous red color. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning. >> good morning, lynn. that deer video is kind of priceless. >> we'll play it over and over again. >> chasing down the attendant ngts exactly. >> let's talk about what's happening in the northwest, because that's where stormy weather was yesterday. the storm system moving lou. interesting, we have strong, gusting winds up through idaho and montana. winter storm warnings. it's cold enough in montana for heavy snow. now in the northwest, as the storm exits today your weather slowly will improve. we're split, because we're protected by high pressure. beautiful conditions here from nevada to arizona to california. no problems with your weather

whatsoever. very warm and some of the best weather in the entire nation. it's just the flow is still coming up off the coast of canada, into idaho. although one storm will exit today, there's another one right behind it. enjoy your one-day break, and it's not much of a break. still cloudy and showery. especially in the cascades. even portland dealing with on and off light rain. during the daylight hour, things dramatically improve as the storm heads out. here's how your forecast will look today. it's very cold and rainy, and messy from salt lake city up through the inner mountain west. seattle today, showers now, same with portland. then your weather improves during the day. notice california. as i mentioned, good as it gets and doesn't look like this weather pattern will change anytime soon. temperatures continuing in the upper 60s to low 70s in most areas and even arizona is seeing very nice conditions. cool morning and nice, warm afternoons. a look at your tuesday

most ideal. once you get inland, mount shasta, you're just fine. we'll talk about that next storm coming up later in the show. >> thanks so much, bill. also coming up, what's apple up to later today? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead, plus it's latest installment of "harry potter" and friends. donovan mcnabb hits the jackpot and a record-setting night for the eagles. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. itv news is reporting that a group of former guantanamo bay

detainees will get millions of pounds in compensation from the english government to drop charges that english spies knew they were being tortures. government sources say the payout avoids a lengthy and costly court case which would have put english speaking intelligence services under the spotlight. haitian protesters are clashing with united nations peacekeepers who they blame for a deadly cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 1,000 people. in the country's second largest city yesterday, witnesses say demonstrators threw stones and threatened to set fire to a u.n. base. a newly released satellite image from nasa shows the scope of devastation from the recent eruption of mt. merapi, indonesia's most volatile volcano. in a dark gray area, a pyroplastic flow. a super-heated wave of gas, ash and rock has caused almost total devastation, flattening trees and coating the ground with debris. and spectators at a

bullfight in mexico got quite a scare when a bull weighing over 1,100 pounds jumped a barrier. the bull fell into an alley way where a worker was hurt after the animal fell on top of him. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,201 after adding nine points yesterday. the s&p shed one point. the nasdaq dropped four. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 30 points. in hong kong, the hang seng lost 334. business news wasn't all bad on monday, but currency worries overseas and here at home dampened the day's otherwise optimistic tone. the dollar climbed against the euro, thanks to increased concerns that ireland and portugal may be deep in debt. today traders will watch a meeting overseas addressing europe's debt crisis.

investigators keeping an eye on inflation data after the fed officials fired back at criticism yesterday that its latest plan will drive down the dollar or ramp up inflation. stocks had been higher most of the day monday after upbeat retail data. october sales jumped to the highest level in seven months, while higher auto demands drove up consumer spending by 1%. deal news fueled gains early on. caterpillar shares shot up after announcing a purchase for bucyrus a mining equipmentmaker, for $7.6 billion in cash. overwhelming demand is reportedly driving up gm's offering price when it goes public on thursday to the $32 to $33 range. analysts say online retailer amazon.com is feeling the heat from walmart's recent online offer for free shipping. amazon shares fell 4%. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg

unveiled and all in one plan designed to streamline e-mail instant messaging and texts. apple's big announcement today will be the long-awaited arrival of beatles music on itunes. finally, things could be looking up at the office these day. more employers are looking at bringing back work day perks like flex time and holiday parties and bigger bonuses. something extra under the tree this year. coming up, the hornets get stung, suns come up golden and overtime thrillers on the ice. plus, michael vick and the eagles flying high in the nation's capital. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. it's a soggy tuesday on the east coast, even a chance of severe weather on the southeast. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the focus coming into last night's monday night football game was on the quarterback that used to play in the city of brotherly love. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. donovan mcnabb signed a five-year $78 million extension with the redskins. then the eagles knocked mcnabb right on his wallet.

eagles came out flying, first place in scrimmage. michael vick rolled into jackson, about 60 yards through the air. jackson took it in for an 80-yard score. they were just getting warmed up. this time, vick jetted with his legs he took it in for himself. phillies led, 14-0 just four minutes in. eagles set a team record in total yards and points at the half at 45 and scored the most points in monday night football history with 59. michael vick looked like the $7 million man in this one. philly routed the redskins, 59-28. in baseball, giants catcher buster posey named the rocky of the year. basketball, hornets, first loss in the season. dirk nowitzki tied the game with a three. the mavs won it 98-95. off to phoenix, nuggets up by as many as 15 when the sun he

rally. steve nash to jason richardson. phoenix down six in the third. grabbing the lead in the fourth. turgulo put it away. suns up 83-82. a three in the final minutes. phoenix won it 100-94. great overtime finishes around the nfl. a giveaway and tyler scored. sabres won. and a dish to ryan callaghan on the doorstep, rangers rally to beat the pens 3-2. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. what's tuned to debut as broadway's most expensive production ever? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, to say "i do" and enjoy true love is better late than never. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. take a tour of extremes. if you want extreme warmth and beautiful weather, you can have all that in hawaii, a beautiful day today from the big island all the way through maui into honolulu. i mentioned extremes. it's that time of year when the cold weather really starts to build up in alaska and northern canada. eventually this heads down to the united states, look at this. fairbanks today, your high temperature. minus 1 degree.

even anchorage, very cold at 22 degrees. so in about a week or two, some of that cold air will probably head down into the u.s. as far as our forecast in the northwest goes, look at that forecast for alaska, makes you feel better about your weather, even though it's going to be dreary this week in seattle. today's the best chance of a dry day, the southwest is where we'll deal with sunshine and night conditions today and tomorrow. the next storm in the northwest. if you're watching on king5 news. paintings and drawings in print at the landmark exhibition of the work of pablo picasso at the seattle art museum. that's your pacific event of the day. >> bill, thank you. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment -- last night, the long awaited "harry potter and the deathly hallows part one" opened in new york city. to the joy of fans but with some inevitable sadness. there's only one more film after

this one, but they were both shot together, so filming's over and cast members are saying good-bye to their cast members and characters. on the other side, emma watson is thrilled to finally be able to have short hair. a week away from starring in her debut feature film, christina aguilera has a star on the walk of fame, growing up in pittsburgh and many auditions saying now it has all paid off. finally, december's "vogue" has exclusive pictures of costumes and sets for "spider-man turn off the dark," costing $60 million, it's the dwmo ebrveoa.ayeverw o hit broadway. directed by julie taymor, it will feature original music by u2's bono and the edge. you there, bill? >> huge u2 fan, not a big broadway fan. you know something? i would do that.

>> ticket dollars, very expensive show. this comes to us from kalb, news channel 5 in alexandria, louisiana, a couple that spent a life time apart will spend their golden years together. newlyweds galvin and evelyn met in 1950 but were torn apart when galvin went off to fight in the korean war. evelyn's mother convinced her long distance love wouldn't work. 60 years later, hard to believe they've spent any time apart. they've fallen in love all over again and will try to make it up in the time they have left. very sweet. >> you can't hold love back. right, lynn? >> exactly. you know, if it's meant to happen, it's meant to happen. >> no rules, right. >> nothing keeping you apart. >> take that, mom. >> exactly. well, i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas at one amusement park. a dozen penguins dressed up in holiday costumes in south drawer get into the spirit. the little guys were looking pretty cute in santa claus inspired coats and rudolph. the getup complete with antlers. throw in makeshift snow and the kids were thrilled to have the holidays come a little early. here's a world record you probably wouldn't want to be. an australian man is sharing his storefront window with 400 spiders for three weeks. he hopes the stunt will earn him a record.

in the meantime, he's trying to avoid being bint, since some of those critters are poisonous. while it may sound crazy, he is also raising money for charity. taking to the airwaves. one deejay broadcast her show 20 feet deep in a tank under water. she went on air with some entertainment from divers. though the record has not officially been declared, the time smashed all previous attempts, which, bill, i think is a challenge for "early today." what do you say? >> no. no. >> we're not going take our show under water? that's disappointing. >> what background music do you think she had? "under the boardwalk"? "under the sea "? >> i knew you were going to say that. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- at the white house, president obama will avoid the medal of honor to army staff sergeant salvatore guinta.

he's receiving the nation's highest honor for courageous in afghanistan in 2007. giunta is the first living recipient from the wars in afghanistan and iraq to receive the award. in dallas, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the future george w. bush presidential library. the former president and first lady laura bush will be taking part the in the ground breaking. and it is the international day for tolerance. a united nations observance that aims to promote mutual respect among people and among communities. all day long, you can find out the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on nbc. tonight, be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news. and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. revealing insiders about how president obama make shake up his inner circle. and day two of "today" goes viral. watch what happened when the crew gets auto tuned.

now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com from our winter luxury edition, with essential oils bursting with luxurious fragrances. new air wick scented oils wrap the whole room with indulgent scent, like apple and cinnamon velvet. winter luxury by air wick;